[nomadbrah]

What worries me about places like Bulgaria is that it's too Sovjet run down for my everyday taste. I get depressed walking in grim concrete apartment blocks all day long.

[Going strong]

(08-30-2017 02:08 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  

What worries me about places like Bulgaria is that it's too Sovjet run down for my everyday taste. I get depressed walking in grim concrete apartment blocks all day long.

Then (in the case of Varna), to perk up, look at the vast open sea, or enjoy the numerous, leafy, big green parks. Or look at Slavic asses on female tourists, all around you ...
No way Varna is grey or depressing during the warm months of the year... In Winter, well, Winter is Winter in all of Europe... And you can still escape from European Winter, there's Florida, Argentina, SEA. Come back in May

[Henny]

(08-30-2017 02:03 PM)Going strong Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 12:46 PM)Akwesi Wrote:  

Going strong, you mentioned rental costs - what about buying?

Count, 1000 to 1500 euros per square meter, in a nice central area of Varna... and utilities like electricity, water, are very cheap.

Be careful though if you plan on buying in a new building, especially outside of city center, along the coast in exclusively touristic places. In touristic places and new buildings, you can get bad (often) or good quality, so, ask a local friend for help. Or, buy condos in not new buildings.

(This is true for the whole world by the way, new constructions are a quality risk, given the lack of principles of new builders)

Henny: "You can get a business visa in Ukraine"

But would you start a business in Ukraine? Or buy a condo, then wait for the regime or mafia to throw you out?

In Bulgaria on the other hand, you are protected by EU laws, and if you yourself are a EU citizen, you already, automatically have all and every right.

Depends on whether you selling hotdogs, or for instance you have an IT outsourcing operation, if it's the latter than Mafia won't be much interested in you, at worst case some high level corruption.

While we are on the subject of the Mafia, Bulgaria is one of the most Mafia ridden places in Europe, EU laws or no EU laws. Also you need eyes in the back of your head whilst walking the streets, whereas in places like Ukraine you are pretty safe unless you do something stupid

[ProGambler]

I already did a Varna datasheet and the day game looked strong and most girls speak decent English. The girls are pretty but slim and flimsy (not my style).

[This Is Trouble]

You mentioned everywhere is miserable in November, but that Varna is even okay in the winter.

I guess I have a bit of disbelief. Perhaps it's more local-uni based than say, Odessa which would contribute to this.

All I know is that a seaside town like Odessa seemed dead in June before peak season, I can't even imagine what February would be like.

[Nowak]

(08-30-2017 04:51 PM)Henny Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 02:03 PM)Going strong Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 12:46 PM)Akwesi Wrote:  

Going strong, you mentioned rental costs - what about buying?

Count, 1000 to 1500 euros per square meter, in a nice central area of Varna... and utilities like electricity, water, are very cheap.

Be careful though if you plan on buying in a new building, especially outside of city center, along the coast in exclusively touristic places. In touristic places and new buildings, you can get bad (often) or good quality, so, ask a local friend for help. Or, buy condos in not new buildings.

(This is true for the whole world by the way, new constructions are a quality risk, given the lack of principles of new builders)

Henny: "You can get a business visa in Ukraine"

But would you start a business in Ukraine? Or buy a condo, then wait for the regime or mafia to throw you out?

In Bulgaria on the other hand, you are protected by EU laws, and if you yourself are a EU citizen, you already, automatically have all and every right.

Depends on whether you selling hotdogs, or for instance you have an IT outsourcing operation, if it's the latter than Mafia won't be much interested in you, at worst case some high level corruption.

While we are on the subject of the Mafia, Bulgaria is one of the most Mafia ridden places in Europe, EU laws or no EU laws. Also you need eyes in the back of your head whilst walking the streets, whereas in places like Ukraine you are pretty safe unless you do something stupid

Single market is a huge advantage even for IT I'd imagine. Especially long term.

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-mark...gle-market

As much as I hate the EU there has always been a form of a single market since ww1 and a bit before. This is a good thing, not a bad one.


True about Ukraine being safer, much lower levels of pleb tier behavior, thuggish behavior seems to be an issue more in the Balkans than anywhere else in Europe.

[nomadbrah]

(08-30-2017 09:58 PM)ProGambler Wrote:  

I already did a Varna datasheet and the day game looked strong and most girls speak decent English. The girls are pretty but slim and flimsy (not my style).

What does that mean?

Am I right in thinking long slim legs, shapely round butt (but not big)?

[Going strong]

Henny, What you write is just, completely false.
Truth is, Bulgaria is very safe, there are virtually no street violence in Sofia and Varna. Ever heard of a tourist being mugged in Bulgaria?? Never happens, and which is more, local families with kids stroll all day long without any worry about criminality.

There is no street violence in Bulgaria as it is an almost monoethnic, peaceful country, that's the unPC truth.

Obviously you have traveled to Bulgaria before they entered EU... Now, EU rules have profoundly diminished mafia activity. Mafia only exists at extremely high level of money activities.

Which means, if you have your own business in Bulgaria, you wont see any mafia unless you start making billions. So, I don't know why you keep giving advice on subjects about which you clearly are outdated. For example, do you know by which initials goes the real mafia, enlighten us please?

In any case, tourists or normal digital nomads will absolutely never encounter mafia or any kind of violence (unless they happen to look like illegal migrants, but this is highly improbable)

[wolfer]

i m right now in sunny beach, its all full of mafia activities and yesterday they tried to rob my friend at the beach just 10 Meters from the bar we were in.
and many woman in bulgaria go for the massive bodybuilder lower class guys instead an cool western european guy.

[MikeS]

I was just in Varna last week to enjoy the beach (I stayed in Golden Sands this time, but was in Varna too). As much as I love the sea - I lived by it for the first 35 years of my life in Scandinavia - I've gotten used to living in a capital city (I've lived in Sofia my four years in Bulgaria) and while Varna has a very cozy and lively downtown in the summer, it just feels like a pretty small and limited city after getting used to one with five times the population.
I was happy to be back in Sofia again.

I have only visited the Bulgarian coast during Summers and late Spring, from what I've heard Varna and Burgas are a whole lot less charming and lively the rest of the year. Sofia is also an ugly city during winter (it's a pretty ugly city in general but lots of parks and greenery to camouflage all the grey during summer), but there's always something to do or somewhere to go.

Regarding safety as some people have mentioned. I've never felt unsafe anywhere in Bulgaria - not Sofia, not Varna, not any of the dozen or so other cities, towns and villages I've visited. Stay out of gypsy neighbourhoods and in the villages keep a low profile (the local guys there might be a lot more likely to get annoyed by foreigners hitting on "their girls" than you will experience in the cities). Also, do pay attention to who you hit on or piss off in bars and clubs, but I only tried occasional nightgame my first two years here in Bulgaria so I don't feel qualified to comment on that anymore.

Edit: Oh, there's one group of criminals to watch out for in Varna, the fucking taxi drivers. In Sofia I'm practically never scammed (and the handful of times it's happened it's been the same two companies) and pay around 0.80 leva (~0.40 Euro) per kilometer, so suburbs to downtown for less than a handful of Euro. In Varna - and not just the Golden Sands resort - they try their very hardest to charge (by local standards) absolutely exorbitant charges. Even being able to talk to the drivers in Bulgarian I was still consistently ripped off at 4-6 times the prices listed on their window signs. It's as bad as Bucharest.
Fortunately I'm fond of walking.

[Going strong]

I have taken numerous taxis in Varna; they are very, very cheap, all have a taximeter and do not cheat. The yellow official taxis I mean... Now, taxis taken in Golden Sands, it's another matter. But Golden Sands is a special case, totally touristic, unique in its bad and good aspects.

[MikeS]

(09-02-2017 01:23 PM)Going strong Wrote:  

I have taken numerous taxis in Varna; they are very, very cheap, all have a taximeter and do not cheat. The yellow official taxis I mean... Now, taxis taken in Golden Sands, it's another matter. But Golden Sands is a special case, totally touristic, unique in its bad and good aspects.

Well, the worst case in Varna I was in a hurry to get to a tourist attraction (the Dolphinarium) so I guess I seemed like easy prey, even though I spoke Bulgarian. First taxi driver I asked refused to use the meter and asked for 15 leva to drive two kilometers. I said hell no. Second guy, exactly the same, and I was running short on time so I said "fuck it, I'm on vacation".
I remember being ripped off by taxi drivers in Varna before on my previous two summer visits.

Since I chose to book a hotel in Golden Sands this time I made good use of the bus, both from and to the airport as well as the two times I went into Varna.
Not the nicest and fastest means of transportation (and on the one day with no sun a few hundred people had decided to take the bus into Varna so it was rather cramped) but I'd rather pay 3 leva instead of trying to convince a taxi driver that he is fact cheating me (actually they cheat most on the short drives, a taxi from Golden Sands to Varna or the airport is somewhat closer to the real listed prices, although they still tend to refuse to use the meter, but I sometimes prefer that on long drives).

[Going strong]

When a taxi anywhere in the world refuses to use the taximeter, which never happened to me in Varna by the way, then one is at liberty to step off the taxi, at any point of the way, like a traffic light, not paying anything of course. Taxi driver not using the taximeter will therefore be powerless to call the cops, being in defiance himself of the law.

In any case, the bus from Varna airport to city center costs half an euro. Cheaper than SEA!

[MikeS]

(09-03-2017 08:52 AM)Going strong Wrote:  

When a taxi anywhere in the world refuses to use the taximeter, which never happened to me in Varna by the way, then one is at liberty to step off the taxi, at any point of the way, like a traffic light, not paying anything of course. Taxi driver not using the taximeter will therefore be powerless to call the cops, being in defiance himself of the law.

In any case, the bus from Varna airport to city center costs half an euro. Cheaper than SEA!

Obviously. I'm just saying that it's been my experience that most of the taxis I've used in Varna the three times I've been there have been trying to cheat me.
The guy who took me for 15 leva in Varna was from Triumf Taxi, which I believe is one of the recommended companies.
Obviously I could have kept looking for another one, or gotten out at any time (which I've done a few times in Sofia where the rare scammers typically have their meter run many times faster than it should).

[BallsDeep]

Is there no Uber in Varna? Uber solved the taxi problem in most countries.

[RatInTheWoods]

Thanks for the heads up OP

I would love to see this place one day.

Isn't it where Dracula got on the ship to travel to Whitby UK?

[MikeS]

(09-03-2017 04:18 PM)BallsDeep Wrote:  

Is there no Uber in Varna? Uber solved the taxi problem in most countries.

There was for a little while in Sofia, not sure about Varna, but it was shut down a year or two ago presumably because of protests from taxi drivers, which prompted the government to find some legal "irregularities".

Googling it now I can see they've also been run out of my native Denmark (where regular taxis are genuinely stupidly expensive, maybe because they all insist on driving Mercedes) because of changed laws. I'm going to Greece in a few weeks, maybe I should try an Uber there, just so I can cross it off my to-do list.

[Going strong]

Being an upstanding and proud Romanian citizen and nobleman, Dracula would have sailed from Constantsa, instead, I guess?

By the way, Varna is the original Odessa (Odesos in Greek) city, and one of the oldest human settlements in History (with in particular, the oldest gold jewels ever made on Earth)... So, for History buffs, there are tours and activities aplenty...

[Going strong]

LatinoHeat has the following to say about Bulgaria, and I totally agree (except on Romanian and Serb chicks looking better - it's actually a draw):

"UNDERRATED:
Bulgaria as a country (Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna are all excellent choices) -

As a country. OK, so I mean the Serbs, the Romanians and possibly even the Hungarians are a bit better looking but Bulgarians are super friendly and there are a lot of stunners and at least a lot of butterfaces with nice curvy bodies and lots of big titties.

Plus, there is a huge talent pool if you want to hire local developers etc. Low cost of living. Really fast internet. Girls a bit more westernized then the rest of the Balkans = sluttier girls + more English. Most people under 35 speak some English at least. Very cheap tickets anywhere else in Europe. Still not part of Schengen. Very mild winters, esp in Varna and Plovdiv, which have a climate similar to Dallas or Atlanta something like that. The culture is agreeable and so are the people. "

thread-7453-...pid1369087

[MikeS]

(09-10-2017 07:58 AM)Going strong Wrote:  

... Very mild winters, esp in Varna...

-20 C in January this year for a few weeks here in Sofia, I think the night temperature went below -25 some days. I had to stop in a mall and buy warmer clothes when I was walking a few kilometers home one late evening. Even running in the snow couldn't keep me warm.

My experience in four years here in Sofia (600 meters above sea level and mountain region, so obviously colder than the seaside on average, but a lot of Bulgaria is mountain region) has been that compared to my native Denmark - which many think and always ask me if it's not very cold during the winter - the summers are much warmer (around 30-38 C during July and August) and a month or two longer (right now it's still 26-30 C in the daytime here in Sofia, although the evenings are getting cooler and the first yellow leaves are showing on the trees) and the winters are colder and usually with more snow.